The Main Questline
This is the main questline that the party follows throughout their travels. For information concerning side adventures, please see the Side Adventures page. Crypty Crawlies Shortly after the party assembled itself in a tavern in the town of Yaroslav, they went to investigate the reported disturbances in the Crypt of Yaroslav. The party battled their way through the undead that were lurking in the dark corners of the crypt and discovered Icus the Necromancer performing necromantic rituals in the crypt's deepest part. When the party interrogated him as to discern his motives begind doing this, the only thing that they discovered is that Icus was doing these rituals in the name of Yorileth, the Old God of Death. Icus did not reveal much about Yorileth except that we should fear him. The party defeated Icus and faced the dilemma of whether to kill him or to deliver him back to the townspeople. Although protested, the party decided to take Icus back to the people of Yaroslav and have them decide his fate. In the crypt, the party discovered Icus' Journal, which chronicled his daily activites. The party was not able to learn much but they were able to find three leads to follow: Lake Everdim to the north, the town of Petrabörg, and the so called "foolish pursuits" of a wizard named Galloway. Inside of the crypt, the party found a few notable magical items: the Hammer of the Storm, Iris' Mirror, the Necromancer's Staff, and the Totem of Yngvild. The party did not have any knowledge about the purpose of the items, so they had to take them to a wizard to have them evaluated. After leaving the crypt, the party delivered Icus to the mayor of Yaroslav. When they asked about a reward, they were told to go see the Grand Duke of Lybeck, as he gives all mercenary rewards in the region. The party decides to set off in that general direction, but first they pay a visit to the local wizard in town. The wizards is able to accurately describe the abilities of all of the items found except for the Totem of Yngvild, although he does say that someone with more knowledge of the forests could possibly discern its use. Frolicking through the Forest The party then departed from Yaroslav en route to Lybeck. The road from Yaroslav to Lybeck takes the party straight into the Emerald Forest. The Emerald Forest is well known for being dense of full of dangerous wildlife and the party encounters plenty along the way. When the party enters the forest, they feel as if they are being watched. The party discovered that they are being watched by the trees themselves that had been animated by the druid Chamomile, who is the protector of the Emerald Forest. The trees tell the party to go see Chamomile so to gain passage, as it is incredibly perilous to cross the Great Divide without his assistance. The party obeys the trees' guidance and goes to where the druid's hut is located and are greeted by Chamomile himself. Chamomile tells the party that he would be more than willing to help them cross the Great Divide if the party were to help him with a small problem. The druid tells the party that there is a local infestation of lizard men who have taken root in his forest and have begun to destroy the trees and land to expand their settlement. The party agrees to find a way to rid Chamomile of his lizard problem. The party sets off to where Chamomile located the lizard men. On their way however, they encounter a woman being beset by bears. In an attempt to avoid immediate conflict, Nephemus speaks to the bears and finds that the woman had angered the bears because she is between them and their cubs. The party is then able to rescue the woman and allow the bears to go free. Upon questioning the woman, she reveals herself to be a breeder for dragons and is currently making a delivery to the lizard civilization which the party is going to. The party tries to convince the woman to allow them to make the delivery for her and deliver the payment to her at her home, and she reluctantly agrees. The woman then departs and the party continued on the road to the lizard civilization. Upon arriving and entering the settlement of the lizard men, the party is greeted cautiously by the shaman of the village. The only ones who were able to communicate with the lizard men were Erevan and Saskan since they are the only ones who speak draconic. After Erevan dances around the reason they are there, they finally reveal that they have the dragon eggs they requested from the breeder. The lizard men allow the party to make camp in their settlement for the night, as it is getting dark out and they do not want their visitors to be harmed in the forest at night. Once the party had made camp, Erevan approaches the local shaman to discuss Chamomile's anxieties with him. The shaman believes that the druid is just a crazy old man who has no right to banish the lizard folk. When Erevan explains the concerns of the druid's for the safety of the forest, the shaman is much more willing to listen to him. Erevan suggests to him that they will help the lizard kin move onto the other side of the Great Divide, out of Chamomile's territory. The shaman agrees and the party will assist them in moving in the morning. Meanwhile, Bertha and Lysanthir deliver the payment to the dragon breeder. As a token of appreciation, the breeder gives the rogue a dragon egg of her own that will hatch in a few days as well as a pair of daggers for the rogue to use in her confrontational efforts. In the morning, both sides of the party are reunited and they go to the Great Divide joined by the lizard men and the druid and the druid grows massive trees and vines to create a bridge for the party and lizard men to cross to the other side. After searching for a bit, the party finds a meadow that would be perfect to settle in. The only problem was that it was full of wolves. The party engaged the wolves and everyone, especially Erevan, gave everything they had into clearing the meadow. In fact, Erevan gave so much that he was mauled by most all of the wolves when he tried to go to the front lines to cast Thunderwave. After the party clears out the meadow, they help the lizard men settle in and the shaman thanks them. The shaman is also able to identify the Totem of Yngvild and tells the party that it has the power to allow its user to cast certain druidic spells. Loitering in Lybeck The party then continues out of the road and soon they find themselves looking at the gates to the city of Lybeck. The guard stops the travelers and asks what their business is. The guards' suspicions are eased very quickly when Lysanthir flashes his insignia and the guards allow them through with no problem. After the party enters the city, they immediately head to the local tavern for some much-needed rest and relaxation. After the party has rested and restocked, they headed to the Grand Duke's palace on the hill in the middle of the city. The Grand Duke, Atrophus Maron, greeted the party with grandeur and openness. The duke pays the party for their services rendered. He also reassigns Lysanthir to permanently travel with the party as an agent of the Grand Duke. The duke allows the party to stay in his guest rooms while they are in town and received top-notch amenities. In the morning, the party goes to various places throughout the city to rest before they embark again. Erevan travels to the Great Library at Lybeck to see if he can find any meaning in any of the tomes there. He is greeted by the librarian Daryl Selassie who encourages Erevan to look around. Erevan is not able to receive much but he does find a 100 year old tome that Daryl says he can take about the city-states of the Gulf of Crows to the south. After Erevan returns from the library, the party departs to follow the lead that Icus' journal had given them; Lake Everdim. The Lakeside Getaway The travelers then departed from Lybeck and began to journey on the road to Lake Everdim. During their long and monotonous journey, that were provided a little excitement by encountering some bandits on the road. These bandits were trying to collect a toll for entry into the nearest lakeside village. The party showed their metal by intimidating the bandits to back down and the party did not need to pay a toll to enter the village. The party enters this small lakeside town and immediately goes to the local weaponsmith's shop who apparently had a gift for Lysanthir from the Grand Duke. The party enters the dwarf's shop and the party explains who they are, and he suddenly looks very apologetic. He explains to the party that the Grand Duke had commissioned a magical bow for Lysanthir, but unfortunately bandits had broken into his shop and stolen the bow before the party had arrived. The party asks the dwarf about where the bandits had come from or where they had gone, but he was clueless. It is at this point that the party briefly splits up to go find information about the whereabouts of these bandits. Nephemus pulls some antics at the local bar almost getting Lysanthir thrown out. The party acquires some new weaponry. notices some smoke coming from the other side of the lake and persistently questions some unknowing towns people about what is causing it. The party is also directed to go to Dobzar, a local wizard who lives on the other side of the lake in order to ascertain the bandit's destinations. The barkeep also tells the party of a group of particularly rowdy drow who had recently trashed and terrorized the tavern. The troupe heads across the waters of the lake where they are beset by pirates of the goblin variety. After a heated battle on the lake the party sets the goblin boats aflame and eventually find themselves on a small dock at the base of a hill, on top of which is a small spire. As the party approaches they are greeted by a wizard known as Dobzar, a man with a "northern accent". He tells them he does know where some bandits are and that they are quite the nuisance and had recently stolen a shipment of materials bound for his humble abode. He offers the party payment for clearing out the bandits. The party sets off to find the bandit camp and on their way come across an orc seemingly unconscious next to a tree, around him are several bandit bodies. As the party approaches to investigate a small form jumps from the shadows to strike out at Bertha but is dodged by Bertha. Just as the party was prepared to fight the orc speaks up, asking telling the halfling to stand down. He introduces himself as Krom and his small companion as Jora. They agree to join up with the party to clear out the group of bandits in exchange that the party helps them repossess a stolen object for Jora from a particular nasty band of smugglers. After the party cleared out the camp they retired to a nearby settlement on the banks of the lake. Here they find out the whereabouts both the smugglers and the group of drow mentioned by the barkeep across the lake. The next day, Erevan is preoccupied reading a novel that he forgets to go with the party to the smugglers hideout. When the party arrives they enter the cavern after taking out the front entrance guards Bertha sneaks in and successfully disguises herself as one of the bandits. The party quickly begins taking out the bandits in the main cavern, does some hammer throwing, Lysanthir and Bertha show off their sneaking abilities. Eventually the party approaches a door at the top of a platform in the cavern. Upon entrance they're thrown in to a pitched battle with a small group of pretty powerful bandits. The party triumphs even with Bertha almost going down before she took out the enemy spellcaster. Here the party recovers Jora's lost artifact and, conveniently, Lysanthir's gift. On the Road to Taslov After returning to report to Grand Duke Maron, the party was told that they should travel to the capital city of Tarlac, Taslov. Here the Grand Duke has asked them to speak with a man named Krasus. The party departed from Lybeck early the next morning, heading out along the Tradeway, the road between Rinceport, Lybeck, and Taslov. Spying a few trading caravans heading towards Lybeck, the party eventually arrives in the town of Gislane, the last town before the Tradeway heads into the Great Hashan Forest. The party decides to stop in the town for the evening and continue on their way the following day. After the party does some poking around with the locals, they eventually head towards the inn, The Smiling Satyr. Upon entrance to the inn common room, the party encounters two locals in a heated argument about a giant problem within the local area. After Erevan intervenes in the argument, the woman runs up to hug Lysanthir and reveals herself to be Lysanthir's sister, Jyra Brightshield. She offers the party promise of a homemade meal and more information on the giant's in the area. The party has a jolly old time the next morning killing some oddly located hill giants. And they head off again on the Tradeway to Taslov